This invention relates generally to equipment maintenance systems and more particularly to systems and methods for coordinating and accomplishing the maintenance of equipment distributed throughout a number of remote locations.
In some fields production equipment is used in high volume, low cost per unit applications. However, the cost per unit quickly increases if the equipment is out of service for an extended period of time. For example, when a piece of production equipment is out of service for maintenance or repair, the work intended to be processed on the equipment must be suspended or routed to a different machine. In either case, potentially high cost equipment is being underutilized, and the cost per unit of work processed by the equipment increases.
It would not be cost effective to maintain skilled labor at the location of each such piece of production equipment. Repair technicians, for example, are not required at a production site during the entire time the equipment is being used for production. However, when the services of the repair technician become necessary due to an equipment failure, it becomes essential to keeping the equipment fully utilized to alert the technician and initiate the repair process. The repair process is further expedited by more specifically informing the repair technician of the condition of the machine.
Therefore, the need exists for systems and methods to monitor and maintain production equipment used in a decentralized production environment. The system should alert maintenance personnel as to the condition of the equipment, thereby expediting the maintenance process. A further objective of such a system is to compile information relating to the repair and service history of equipment within the system.